Lesson 6
| Immigration and the Racialization of Work
86
Learning from Labour |
Intermediate ETFO Resource
|
www.etfo.ca
Task Component
Instruction
Assessment Focus
Look Fors
Notes for Teachers
After
(Reflecting/Connecting/
Consolidating)
10 minutes
Ask some of the students to give
an oral report on their findings by
answering the following questions:
• What were some of the
working conditions faced
by the workers that you
researched?
• How did racist and
discriminatory attitudes
towards /Chinese/Irish/
Blacks affect the working
conditions of those groups
during the mid-late 1800s?
Student responses should reflect
an understanding of the unequal
and unfair ways in which Irish,
Black and Chinese workers were
treated by employers.
Student responses may include
examples such as unequal pay,
exposure to disease, crowded
living conditions, etc.
Students may be unaware of the
tensions that existed between
white working class workers
and racialized workers due to
competition for employment and
wages.
Black, Irish, Chinese and other
immigrant workers could often
be paid less money to do the
same work as a white Canadian of
British ancestry.
As a result, many Canadians
feared that people belonging to
these groups would create unfair
competition for scarce jobs.
The events of the Shelbourne
riots are an example of tensions
between members of the working
class exploding in a dramatic
fashion.
Individual
Practice
(A question for
extension that students
can do independently to
assess understanding of
the concept(s).)
10 minutes
Assign the following question:
Imagine that you are a worker
belonging to one of the groups
from our class research (a Black
Loyalist, a Chinese railroad worker,
an Irish worker on the Rideau
Canal).
Using the “Immigrant Worker’s
List of Improvements” graphic
organizer, write a list of problems
or concerns that you are
experiencing as a worker in the
first column.
In the second column, write a
corresponding improvement that
you would like to see put in place
for the future.
Assessment of Learning
Students should be able complete
the first column of the graphic
organizer by listing examples of
discriminatory working conditions
of at least one of the featured
groups of workers. They should be
able to synthesize this knowledge
with their own previously
held knowledge to compose a
corresponding list of worker
improvements in the second
column of the graphic organizer.
Circulate to ensure that students
have an adequate grasp of what
constitutes discriminatory or
unfair working conditions.